Vision:

Working with communities to

protect what they value.

Mission:

To reduce the incidence and

consequence of fire and provide

a professional response to other

emergencies.

Short data messages over P25

for New Zealand Fire Service

2

Sean CrawfordTelecommunications ConsultantFebruary 2011

2011 APCO Australasia Conference

Key attributes of New Zealand Fire Service:

• Nationwide Fire and Rescue service serving 4.4M

people.

• Uniformed force of 1700 paid and 8000 volunteers

(plus rural fire forces 3500). Management and

support staff of 360 people.

• Respond to 67,651 incidents in FY2009/10.

• Funded primarily from insurance levies.

Overview of NZ Fire Service

New Zealand Fire Service land mobile radio service

(LMR):

• Communications between communication centres,

vehicles and fire stations.

• Nation-wide network of linked repeaters, connecting

to three communications centres.

• Communications centres shared with Police.

• Coverage of over 90% of NZ land area (cellular

operators cover under 40%).

Overview of NZFS radio service

Coverage provided by communication centres:

Overview of NZFS radio service

Northern Com-Cen(Auckland)

Central Com-Cen(Wellington)

Southern Com-Cen(Christchurch)

New Zealand Fire Service land mobile radio service

(LMR):

• Fire Service radios channels exclusive in urban areas

and shared with Police in rural areas.

• Work managed on a common computer assisted

dispatch system, supplied by Intergraph (ICAD).

• Com-cen traffic can be handled by an alternative

centre if off-line or overloaded.

Overview of NZFS radio service

Current LMR:

• Based on 75MHz analogue conventional network.

• Wide-area coverage provided by channel groups.

• Channel groups consist of between one and six

repeaters, sharing a common mobile transmit

frequency and receiver voting.

Overview of NZFS radio service

Data overview:

• Regularly recurring information passed over the LMR

is sent as K-codes.

• The most frequently sent K-codes are transported

over the analogue network using selcall.

• Additional selcall codes used for control at fire

stations and alert on appliances.

Data Messages

K-codes:

Data Messages

Code Mode Message

K0 V Not available

K1 VT Proceeding to incident

K2 VT In attendance at incident

K3 VT On RT outside normal turnout area

K4 VT On RT inside normal turnout area

K5 VT On RT available at incident

K6 VT On Telepager

K7 VT At normal station

K8 VT At residence (on phone)

K9 VT Off RT (state location)

KE V Unable to proceed (state reason); spoken as ―Kay-Echo

K-codes:

Data Messages

Code Mode Message

K41 V Fatality (indicate number with suffix, e.g. K41-1.)

K42 VT Rescue effected or hazardous substance contained

K43 VT All available manpower utilised

K44 V Command or control point established (State OIC and location.)

K45 V Command responsibility changed to [name]

K46–1 V Stop message – false alarm good intent

K46–2 V Stop message – false alarm accidental

K46–3 V Stop message – defective apparatus

K46–4 V Stop message – malicious

K46–5 V Stop message – alarm agent in attendance

K46–6 V Stop message – nothing showing on indicator board

K47 V Stop message – message unchanged from informative

K48 V Stop message – details to follow by telephone

K51 V Trial evacuation to be held at [ location and time]

K52 V (State location.) Was 111 call received from the premises?

K53 V [Location] evacuation was successful

K55 VT First appliance in attendance – special service call

K66 VT First appliance in attendance – non property fire

K77 VT First appliance in attendance – nothing showing investigating further

K88 VT First appliance in attendance – property fire apparently small

K99 VT First appliance in attendance – property fire well involved

Advantages of data:

• Automated turnout of fire stations and crews (via

LMR and paging).

• Minimising radio airtime (reducing verbal coms.).

• Minimising com-centre labour (direct input into ICAD

versus transcribing)

• Automated production of job reports.

Data Messages

ComCen

Sky Uplink to infill paging

Telecom Paging(Flex)

Land Mobile RadioNetwork

Radio messages:• Stn turnout command• Pager acknowledge• K1, truck leaving• K2 or K99, arrival• K4, available• K7, on station

Volunteer FFFlex or POCSAG pagers

111

Data Messages

User equipment

13

Appliance user

terminal

User equipment

14

Station radio and turnout system

User equipment

15

Support vehicle radio

Change to P25

Fire Service is working with Police and other government agencies on migration to a new digital P25 trunked radio network.

Drivers for change include:

• Leverage advantages of P25 technology

• Continue the shared platform with Police

• Increased inter-operability with other agencies

• Replace aging network and terminal equipment.

Change to P25

P25 system:

• Supports our voice requirements, but...

• Does not support selcall.

Carrying messages requires a new method of transport.

The SDM solution

P25 data services available:

• Status messages

• Packet data

• Low speed data

• Short data messages (SDM) – used by Fire Service

The SDM solution

Short data message:

• 16-bit free-field data

• Carried on the trunking control channel

The SDM solution

P25 Short data message structure:

Octet 0 LB P Opcode (Opcode 0x1c)

Octet 1 Manufactures ID

Octet 2

Octet 3 Message

Octet 4

Octet 5 Destination Address

Octet 6

Octet 7

Octet 8 Source Address

Octet 9

Octet 10 TSBK CRC

Octet 11

Bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

The SDM solution

Fire Service SDM format:

The format of the Message will be as follows

Octet 3bit 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Octet 2 a b x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

a = 0

Bits 14 to 0 are used for status

a = 1

Remaining bits 13 to 0 are used for area

If b = 0 status = 3

if b = 1 status = 9

Customised Tait TM9155 radios for:

• Interface to existing MSU (big button box)

• Driver circuitry for appliance accessories

• Preset dual destination addressing

• Pre-formated menus for generating messages

Other aspects – Hardware

Customised network firmware:

• Trunked analogue gateway firmware to handle Fire

Service messaging

Other aspects – Hardware

Changes at communication centres:

• Transitional period – analogue & digital systems

• Intergraph changing ICAD from selcall interface to

P25 interface

• Voice channel management move to IPICS

Other aspects – CAD

Other aspects – Band Change

P25 network uses 140MHz:

• Change from 75MHz band

• Coverage equalised by lower mute setting

• Smaller antennas make for easier installation

• Expect to eliminate interference from Australian

transmitters.

Other aspects – user aspects

Initial aim to replace like-for-like.

Changes for users:

• Removal of audible tones from system

• Clearer audio

• Different user controls on some terminals

• Out-of-range indication – on selected terminals

Other aspects – SLA

Key changes to account for in Service Level Agreement

with Police:

• Change from a conventional network to a trunked

network (esp. access time & blocking)

• Terminal management and maintenance

• Network usage/performance reporting

Implementation for the next 18 months:

• Pilot in Wellington – April ‘11

• Full implementation in Wellington by July ‘11

• Implementation in Canterbury by June ‘12

Where to from here...?

Thank you